


The God Eater King, The God of Gods, The Lord of Shades (Hollow Knight x Ninjago)

by Pikachic



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games), Lego Ninjago
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Ghost is baby, One Shot, Post-Embrace the Void Ending (Hollow Knight), The Knight is Called Ghost (Hollow Knight), Why Did I Write This?, this crossover makes no sense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:35:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25637425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pikachic/pseuds/Pikachic
Summary: (aka the most fucking random crossover ever because my brain can’t help but mash together my two current obsessions I'm so sorry please don't judge me)After a run-in with a particularly nasty group of bugs, the Ninja are invited to the White Palace for an audience with the obscenely powerful King of Hallownest themselves.
Comments: 20
Kudos: 84





	The God Eater King, The God of Gods, The Lord of Shades (Hollow Knight x Ninjago)

When the Ninja had been turned into weird bugs, shrunk down, and thrust into an unknown kingdom known as Hallownest, they never expected that they would discover such a vibrant and diverse culture hidden beneath the ground.

What they expected even less was that they would end up catching the interest of a particularly nasty group of bugs (“The Remnants of the Soul Twisters” and “The Last Disciples of the Soul Master” were a few names that stood out), who had promptly kidnapped Lloyd and Jay and tried to drain them of their “Soul”. Thankfully, the Ninja had been able to rescue their friends with the aid of two of Hallownest’s Great Knights, Cloth the Gentle and Hornet, Queen of Deepnest. Both of them had been pursuing the Soul Twisters for quite some time. With the help of the other Ninja, Cloth and Hornet were successfully able to deal with the Soul Twisters.

“Those Soul Twisters are a nasty bunch, aye,” Cloth had said.

What the Ninja expected the least, however, was for Hornet and Cloth to invite them to the White Palace for an audience with the King of Hallownest themselves. So after chucking Lloyd and Jay in a Hot Spring for a while, they had allowed Cloth and Hornet to escort them to the palace.

Lloyd wasn’t naive though, and he knew the rest of the Ninja weren’t, either. He knew they weren’t being taken to the palace just for a simple “thank you” from the King.

They were being taken to the palace because of their powers. The night after he recovered, Lloyd had overheard Hornet conversing with Cloth about her concern regarding the Ninja’s abilities.

“Their powers are similar to those of Higher Beings,” he remembered Hornet saying. “You saw the Soul they extracted from the dragonfly and lightning bug. It was _green_ and _blue_. We have never seen _colored_ Soul before. And there are _six_ of them. That is a considerably large amount of power we know _nothing_ about.” He remembered her expression darkening considerably. “We do not want something like the Radiant Plague happening again.”

Lloyd knew about the Radiant Plague. During their several weeks working in Elderbug’s Inn, the old insect had educated the Ninja on Hallownest’s history.

The Radiant Plague was caused by a Higher Being known as the Radiance. Shortly after the previous king, known as The Pale King, came to power, the Radiance had begun to spread a sickly orange pestilence, haunting the dreams of those infected and turning them into nothing more than walking corpses. No matter what… _extreme_ measures the Pale King took, the sickness still spread.

It wasn’t until one of the King’s discarded children, the current King of Hallownest, had _consumed_ the Radiance and consequently _ascended to godhood_ , that Hallownest was finally freed from the horrible plague.

And now, as Lloyd stood waiting before an empty black throne, he couldn’t help but feel more than a tad apprehensive. Judging by how the rest of the Ninja shifted uncomfortably at his side, he knew they shared his sentiment.

They had heard many things about the King of Hallownest. They had heard of their immense power and unwavering will. They had heard of how the King had helped the current Hallownest rise from the ashes of the previous one, as well as improved relations with the Mantis Village and with Deepnest. The improved relations with Deepnest were likely aided by the fact that the Queen of Deepnest and the King of Hallownest were _siblings_.

The King also held a multitude of titles. Many subjects referred to them as “The God Eater King” or “The Ghost King of Hallownest”, or in rarer cases, “The God of Gods.” One of the most unsettling titles the king held, however, was the one they heard used the least often: “The Lord of Shades.” If the Ninjas’ past experiences with all those villains said anything, a name like that never implied anything good.

Lloyd was snapped out of his thoughts when one of the Royal Retainers standing in the room bellowed, “All rise for the Five Great Knights of Hallownest!”

Lloyd stood up even straighter. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the other Ninja doing the same. They had only met two of the Great Knights, and Lloyd knew that if two of them by themselves were that powerful, all five together were surely a force to be reckoned with.

“Cloth the Gentle!” The Royal Retainer announced.

Cloth entered the room, her large club resting comfortably on her shoulder. Her armor glinted in the light and the silvery-blue cloak she wore billowed as she moved to take her place by the throne. Once she caught sight of the Ninja, she sent a cheerful wave in their direction.

“Tiso the Bold!”

A tall, lanky bug wearing a turquoise hood and turquoise tinted armor with silver accents entered the room. He carried a rounded silver shield on his arm. After sending a long, rather condescending glare at the Ninja, he took his place by Cloth’s side.

“Quirrel the Wise!”

The Ninja watched as a pillbug entered the room and moved to stand by the throne, regarding the Ninja with friendly curiosity. The pillbug wore a strange, flat silver hat on his head. The hat was decorated with a carving of a Hallownest Seal, as well as a carving of a four-eyed face. A translucent green veil fell from the brim of the hat and reached down to his knees. He wore a relatively small amount of armor, and a silver nail covered with intricate carvings hung at his waist.

“Hornet, Queen of Deepnest!”

Hornet stepped into the room, wearing a rather more decorative cloak than they had seen her wearing before. The cloth was dyed a rich red and was decorated with intricate silver embroidery. The hems of the cloak were edged in white fur. Lloyd caught sight of Hornet’s shimmery gossamer wings poking out of the bottom of the cloak. A simple silver headdress depicting a six-eyed face rested in the middle of her forehead. Her polished needle hung at her side. She gave a curt nod to the Ninja and went to stand at Quirrel’s right.

“Hollow, the Pale Knight!”

The Ninja stiffened as a hulking figure entered the room. Their white serrated horns gleamed in the blinding light. A thin crack streaked across their face and through one of their eyes. The armor they wore was a silvery-white and decorated with complex carvings and designs. In their hand, they gripped a Pure Nail almost twice the size of Hornet. Lloyd realized with a jolt that the Knight only had one arm.

“Finally,” The Royal Retainer exclaimed. “It is my great honor to present…”

Lloyd sucked in a breath.

“The God Eater King of Hallownest,”

Nya and Kai tensed.

“The God of Gods,”

Cole clenched both of his fists.

“The Lord of Shades,”

Jay let out a barely audible whimper.

“King Ghost!”

Lloyd fixed his eyes on the door. He clenched his teeth and braced himself as in walked…

A child.

_A child._

It took everything Lloyd had to not openly gawk as the King began making their way to the throne.

“ _That’s the King?!_ ” He heard Jay whisper-scream.

“They’re so _little,_ ” Cole murmured.

The King was indeed _tiny_. Their shell was porcelain white, and tips of their gracefully curved horns barely made it to Hornet’s waist. They wore a simplistic silver headdress adorned with an ornament resembling a silver four-pronged spear, which rested in the middle of their forehead. They sported an endearingly oversized black cloak edged in black fur, pinned in place with a silver brooch in the shape of a Hallownest Seal. A small Pure Nail hung from their back.

The King’s cloak dragged slightly on the floor as they stopped in front of their throne. After staring for a second, they began attempting to climb their way onto it.

Nya snorted slightly, then quickly clapped a hand over her mouth. Thankfully, no one noticed.

After a few failed attempts, Lloyd half expected the King to just ask Hornet to help them onto the throne or something. Instead, much to the shock of the Ninja, tendrils of black energy shot out from under their cloak and lifted them onto the throne, where they adjusted their clothes and proceeded to stare down at the Ninja.

Hornet cleared her throat.

“Ghost, these are the bugs I informed you on earlier.” She glanced down at the Ninja. “The ones with the strange abilities and _colored_ Soul.”

The King cocked their head in interest. After a moment, they hopped down from their throne and began to approach the Ninja.

The Ninja stood statue-still as they watched the tiny King draw closer and closer.

Lloyd swallowed as the King came to a stop right in front of him. They stared at him for a moment, their empty, eternal gaze boring into his shell. Then, they drew out a pair of nubby little hands. Slowly, almost cautiously, they reached down and took Lloyd’s hand, grasping it with both of their own. The King’s tiny fists were unnaturally cold. They continued to stare intensely at him as they held his hand. Lloyd stared back. Then, he shivered as he felt an odd chill crawling up his arm. He glanced down and spotted those black tendrils from before sprouting from the King’s hands and coiling themselves around his wrist.

Lloyd gasped and wrenched his hand back. The King retracted their little hands slightly, and the black tendrils pulled back somewhat. The rest of the Ninja made slight exclamations of surprise. Kai had even dropped into a fighting stance.

The King innocently cocked their head at Lloyd.

Lloyd panted slightly. “What was-”

“Do not be alarmed,” a calm voice spoke up.

Lloyd glanced up and saw the Great Knight Quirrel looking at him with a mixture of sympathy and amusement.

“That is simply Ghost’s way of saying hello,” Quirrel continued. “They inspect the Soul that animates your body and get to know you. Rather intuitive, if you ask me, considering they are unable to speak.” Quirrel chuckled slightly. “I was rather shocked when Ghost greeted me like that for the first time. It does not hurt, the tendrils just feel slightly unpleasant.”

Lloyd’s mind exploded with questions.

_There’s that word again. Soul._

_What does it mean?_

_“The Soul that animates my body?” Like my spirit?_

_How do they inspect it?_

Lloyd considered ignoring Quirrel’s words, but something about the pillbug’s sympathetic demeanor calmed him down somewhat. He glanced back down at the King. The King stared at him for a moment longer, then politely held out both of their hands.

Lloyd sighed and placed his hand back into the King’s grasp.

The tendrils remained still for a moment, as if making sure Lloyd didn’t object in any way to their existence, then began coiling around his wrist again.

Lloyd remained silent as the tendrils made their way up his arm. They reached past his wrist, then to his elbow, then to his shoulder. He flinched slightly as one brushed his face.

They were just so _cold._

After a few uncomfortable seconds, the tendrils abruptly retracted.

Lloyd let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding.

The King stared at him for another moment (they did that a lot, didn’t they?), then gave his hand two small pats and released it.

As Lloyd allowed his hand to fall to his side, the King started making their way down the row of Ninja, inspecting each of them the same way that they had him.

Zane was the last to be inspected. The King seemed especially interested by Zane, apparently perplexed by Zane’s silver shell and robotic nature. After the King had retracted their tendrils from Zane’s arm, they circled Zane a single time, examining him from a more physical viewpoint. Then, unexpectedly, they sprouted a few more tendrils, using them to lift their small body into the air so that they were at eye level with Zane. Then, they curiously tapped Zane’s head a few times.

A moment later, the tendrils abruptly vanished, allowing the King to drop delicately to the ground. They made their way back to their throne, taking their place on top of it.

After a bit of silence, Hornet asked, “Well? What do you make of them?”

The King cocked their head (they did that a lot too, apparently), seemingly in deep thought. Then, they made a single motion with one of their hands.

“‘Friend?’” Hornet inquired. The King nodded in response. They then made two more motions with their hands.

“‘Need help?’” Hornet stated. “They need help?” The King nodded again. They pointed insistently at the Ninja.

Hornet sighed and turned to address the Ninja, who had been watching the exchange with quiet anticipation.

“Ghost has deduced that you six ‘Ninja’ need help with something,” Hornet said. “And, judging by the way they’ve been acting towards you, you need help with something rather… _out of the ordinary._ ” Hornet’s brow furrowed slightly. “Why did you come here? What is it that you desire from our kingdom?”

Lloyd turned to the Ninja. They nodded in silent understanding, quietly agreeing that they would be completely truthful. After all, if the King was really as powerful as everyone said, then they were likely the Ninjas’ best bet for returning home.

Lloyd sighed.

“It’s a long story…”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading my stupid random nonsensical crossover that I just wrote on a whim one day.
> 
> I got the ideas for the new Five Great Knights of Hallownest from @spoopydoodle's Void Given Focus AU on tumblr.
> 
> If I manage to find the time and motivation, I may flesh out this ridiculous One-Shot into a full-on ridiculous story someday.
> 
> But thanks again for reading!


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